Water vending in Nigeria : a case study of Festac Town, Lagos, Nigeria

In most developing countries, it has been recognized that conventional water utilities have fallen short in providing adequate water services to populations. Festac Town, Lagos, Nigeria is a typical community that is presently not being serviced by such water utilities due to the inability of the Water Supply Agency (WSA) in supplying water to the area. Households therefore seek other alternative sources including water vending. This paper examined the role of water vending in household water supply delivery in this community. It identified the sources of water supply by the vendors, assessed their level of patronage among households and identified the problems associated with their operations. For the study, a total number of 1,139 and 57 households and vendors were selected by simple random sampling respectively. The result showed that there are two main categories of water vending namely; formal and informal vendors. All formal vendors obtain their supplies from improved sources while most informal vendors obtain theirs from unimproved sources. Majority of the households consider vended water as a coping strategy since they are aware of the safety implications. Therefore, most households are willing to pay for water services. The paper canvassed the need for government to recognize the role of water vending in water delivery. It advocated for a secondary level of supply mechanism among vendors in a bid to ensure quality water supply. The paper concluded that the most sustainable strategy would be to resuscitate the moribund piped water supply system earlier initiated by the WSA.[authors abstract]

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